Into darkness

During my forced downtime I was asked to find certain photos for Josh   This was not one of them but I thought it was cute

I liked this of Josh   I think he is 10 or 11

Me in high school with my white lips and paisley Nehru jacket. Would love to have that skin back. When I was very young straight hair was a cosmetic defect but later, it became OK

8 week old twin nieces in 1985

Surgery scares me. So many things can go wrong or be found but it is over, except for the pain. The organs removed have already been examined and determined to be free of cancer. They blew me up like a balloon and inserted a camera so they could see what they were taking out and also examine for signs of trouble. I saw the colorful photos, nice and sharp with my organs larger than life sized. Ovaries did not have obvious tumors on them. My uterus has shrunk,, as normal, to a fraction of its former size. Could see my liver too and a distressing amount of fat.

I had some time before going in. I was to fast but I was allowed 12 oz of clear fluid no later than 4 hours before surgery. I chose black coffee which might have not been the best choice and I also got one more run in (nice and cool for a change but my hip pain returned though now it is masked by a whole lot of other pain)

First problem was I was too dehydrated for them to insert the iv. (Coffee and running dehydrates) Usually I am a phlebologist's dream being thin with big veins but she was clearly having problems. Hate needles under my skin randomly poking my veins. She had to get a vein finder, a machine that lights up your veins. I was curious how it worked. I since learned it uses infrared waves. I assume blood is warmer than the rest of my body. Finally she was able to find a useful vein. The staff is getting younger and younger especially the anesthesiologist who looked like a high school student. My surgeon, who I really like, showed up at the last moment. Any questions? I had some blood work done previous to showing up and although she wrote: all normal, you're good to go, one test for antibodies in case I needed a transfusion seemed way off. A good number would be close to zero but mine said 1533. She said that can't be, she would not have signed off on that and looked it up. 1533 was the time the blood was taken, not the result. I didn't use the recommended browser for the portal so my results are fairly jumbled. That was her laugh for the day.

I was using a different hospital than the one I had my other 3 surgeries so their processes seemed different. At UM, when it was time for surgery, they would wheel me to the surgical unit, do a bunch of little things then have me count backwards while they administered the knockout drug. They chose to surprise you here. They said something about giving me something to relax and the next thing I know I awoke with a sore throat and asked when I was going to go to surgery.

You're all done.

So they didn't see anything abnormal and though I was prepared to dress as if I was 9 months pregnant, I pretty much was the same size I came in as. I was told I would be very groggy for 2 days. Ha. Barely have slept at all though Steve thinks it was the large latte I insisted to sooth my throat where they had rammed a breathing tube down.

We picked up my heavy duty narcotics supplied with some sort of polymer to dispose of ones I don't use. I never dispose of narcotics having come up short when I really needed them for a broken arm. I am using them sparingly as they come with a cost so only at night.  I can be pain free if I am perfectly still but I am a tosser and turner which led to pain all last night.

And on top of it, another brief storm blew through knocking out our power yet again. Although they said it would not return for another day and a half, it came back early this morning.